Chapter 18 – Who's at the Door?
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The doorknob turned slowly — one creak at a time.
Aunty Sade froze. Femi held his breath. I did too. Because in that moment, I wasn't sure what was scarier: a ghost… or a living secret.
The door opened.
And there she stood.
Eyeliner smudged. Slippers mismatched. Slight limp. Hair neatly packed like someone coming from a retreat.
Madam. Eunice.
I blinked.
Femi gasped.
Aunty Sade… fainted.
Madam Eunice didn't flinch. She stepped over her sister's collapsed body like it was part of the floor design.
"I heard someone was looking for me," she said, her voice dry like biscuit without tea.
"You're… alive," I stammered.
"And well," she said, adjusting her scarf. "Before you ask, no—I didn't die, I wasn't kidnapped, and I'm not mad. I left."
Femi looked confused. "But why, Ma? You disappeared! We thought—"
She cut him off with a glance. "Because Sade wanted to protect herself more than she wanted to protect the truth."
I turned to look at Aunty Sade, who was now awake and pretending to still be unconscious.
"I had an argument with her," Madam Eunice continued, walking toward the chest. "She threatened to ruin me. I said I'd expose her lies. So I left. Told her to keep my things and say nothing."
"You left everything behind," I said, eyeing the chest.
She sighed. "To make it believable. And because I trusted her. Silly me."
She crouched by the chest, opened the diary, and flipped to a page. "Here. Everything is there. The fight. The threats. Even the real reason I had to leave."
Femi knelt beside her. "But how did you know we were digging into it?"
She smiled faintly. "Someone from the compound called me. Said 'one fine girl in the family is always asking questions and entering places she shouldn't.' I knew it was time to come back."
I blinked. "So you weren't… cursed?"
She laughed. "Cursed keh? I'm too broke for curses. Everything I left behind—the herbs, the bottle—they were just old remedies and keepsakes."
Aunty Sade finally sat up and groaned. "You promised you wouldn't return!"
"And you promised to protect my name!" Madam Eunice snapped. "But you were more interested in protecting your own secret."
The room went still.
And then… we heard another knock.
This time, it was at the main door.
Loud.
Insistent.
"Open o! We've heard everything! The whole compound is outside!"
Femi stood, face pale. "Oh no. The neighbours."
Madam Eunice stretched her legs. "Good. Let them hear it. Since everybody loves gist."
I looked at Femi. "Should we open the door?"
He shrugged. "It's not our palava anymore."
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To be continued…
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